Today on Armed Forces Day, Oliver Gardner, former Lieutenant Colonel, now Chief Transformation Officer at Mattioli Woods, argues that the wealth management industry is missing a critical opportunity to address its looming talent crisis: recruiting from the armed forces.
Every year on Armed Forces Day1, the nation pauses to recognise the immense service and sacrifice of those who have worn the uniform. What receives far less attention is what happens afterwards; where that talent goes, and whether the industries that could benefit most are doing enough to attract it. Having spent 17 years in the army before moving into financial services, I know this from personal experience.
Wealth management should be leading that conversation, particularly at a moment when the profession faces a long-term succession challenge. Experienced advisers are approaching retirement while millions of people are underserved, and one of the strongest talent pipelines available remains surprisingly overlooked. I believe we need to do far more to change that.
Some of the qualities most desperately needed in financial advice are developed long before someone ever studies pensions, investments or tax planning. They’re forged in environments where trust matters, pressure is constant and responsibility for others is non-negotiable.
The skills you can’t teach in a classroom
Financial advice is often viewed as a technical profession. Of course, technical knowledge matters but those things can be taught.
What is far harder to develop is judgement and emotional composure. The capacity to remain calm when somebody else is anxious; the instinct to put another person’s interests ahead of your own; the ability to build trust quickly and maintain it over years, sometimes decades.
In the armed forces, these are not considered soft skills. They’re fundamental, and they translate into financial advice with remarkable directness.
From Sandhurst to financial services
A career in wealth management was never part of my original plan.
The army was almost a fluke. One minute I was a solicitor enquiring about joining the Army Legal Services, and the next I was graduating from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, leading soldiers from the Paras and Gurkhas.
I went on to serve for 17 years, eventually reaching the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, before moving into consultancy and leadership roles in financial services.
What surprised me was not how different the worlds were, but how transferable leadership proved to be.
What became clear very quickly after leaving the army was just how transferable military leadership is. Values-based leadership works in any environment. If a team is grounded in trust and clear accountability, people perform at their best when they feel valued as individuals while also feeling part of something bigger than themselves.
Equally transferable is a ‘mission first’ mentality. In the armed forces, the order of priority is simple: the mission, others’ needs, then yourself. That instinct – putting others first – is exactly what client-centred financial advice demands.
The values that first drew me towards military service remained constant throughout my later career:
- Courage
- Discipline
- Respect For Others
- Integrity
- Loyalty
- Selfless Commitment
My longevity in the army came from the alignment between my personal values and those of the military. What I didn’t anticipate after leaving was the loss of purpose.
That feeling of helping make the world a better, safer place was a far bigger loss than I expected. It took me several years to rediscover that sense of purpose.
For me, wealth management provides exactly that.
At its best, wealth management is about far more than money. It’s about helping people make confident decisions about their future, protecting and growing wealth so families, businesses and future generations can thrive with confidence. That’s a purpose I can certainly get behind.
An underused talent pipeline
My own experience is one example of a much wider opportunity. Ex-armed forces personnel – whether they served for two years or twenty – often already possess the qualities that are hardest to teach: integrity, accountability, emotional composure and a genuine service mindset. The technical knowledge can follow – the character is already there.
A profession worth considering
For those leaving the armed forces and considering what comes next, financial planning may not immediately feel like an obvious destination. Perhaps it should.
The qualities developed through military service are not peripheral to becoming a great financial adviser. In many ways, both professions are built on the same fundamental principle: responsibility for other people. At a time when the profession continues searching for the next generation of advisers, the question worth asking is not whether ex-forces personnel could succeed in wealth management – it’s why the profession has overlooked them for so long.
